


Unsettled Nights

by down



Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-05-31
Packaged: 2018-01-27 20:35:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1721732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down/pseuds/down
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ferio and Clef - pre, post, and mid-canon, three nights when they meet in the library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Night Light

**Author's Note:**

> This began as two pieces written for fan_flashworks, and was also in response to Various People *waves hi at Trin-nya* on the Cephiro forum asking for fic about Ferio and Emeraude as children. …So I ended up writing about Ferio and Clef instead! In a highly predictable manner. Ooops. But because it’s Clef and Ferio, Emeraude shadows the whole thing anyway… Which means it’s a little more bittersweet than the cuteness I think I was being encouraged to write at the beginning? Sorry~ 
> 
> The first part is pre-canon, the second is technically post-canon but half of it is a memory which occurs mid-canon. The split into chapters preserves the original two companion pieces, originally posted as ‘night light’ and ‘settling’ for the ‘kids’ and ‘backward’ challenges respectively, here slightly edited and very slightly expanded. 
> 
> Mild warnings for mention of canon character death and nightmares/insomnia.

The door to the library creaked slightly as it opened, and Clef glanced up from the book which lay across his lap, leaning forwards to look between the shelves. It took him a moment to recognise the boy clinging to the handle, still mostly hidden in the shadows of the corridor. This time of night, there were only a few lights on in the library, but that was still more than in the corridor – and Clef had whispered light into a small globe of crystal which sat on the shelf behind him, casting shadows out into the corridor. 

But there weren’t many children in the castle, at the moment. A good thing: most of the children here were orphans, under the care of the Pillar. But not all of them. Some, instead, were like this boy’s sister, here to study. Emeraude had a strong gift for magic, and a stronger will. With time and practise, she was going to become an exceptional mage. 

…For now, though, she was still too young and inexperienced to really have control of her power. It wasn’t surprising that her home had seen more demons in the past year than anywhere else in Cephiro, dreamed up by her nightmares, normal childhood bad dreams turning into everyone’s problem. To keep her and her family safe, she had come here to study with Clef and the other mages who wandered in and out of the Pillar’s court. 

Her brother was quite possibly just as stubborn, from what Clef had seen – but showed no interest in magic. Still, he was even younger than Emeraude, there was time. In fact, he was young enough that at this time of night he should have been fast asleep, unless something had woken him. And it couldn’t be anything Emeraude had dreamed up. Clef had set the shields about her room himself, he would have felt if they were disturbed. 

(If he did develop an interest in magic, Ferio was likely to remain in Emeraude’s shadow all his life. Perhaps it was only sensible that he be interested in other things.) 

…And he still showed no sign of moving. Clef lifted his book up again, settling back in his chair. “You can come in, Ferio.” 

The boy slipped inside and padded across the room, hesitating a few paces away from Clef’s seat at the desk, his eyes drawn to the light in the crystal. His shock of hair was wilder than usual, the tie at the nape of his neck mostly undone; he’d probably slept a little, at least. 

“My sister tried to do that once.” Ferio said, and Clef set his book down. He reached out and took the crystal from the shelves, the stone cool in his hand; Ferio watched him, focused sharply on the glow. 

“To put light in a stone, like this?” Clef held it out to Ferio, and watched him hesitate again – but then step forwards, and take it, gingerly. When nothing happened, he turned the sphere around in his hands, studying it. 

“It got really hot.” Ferio muttered. “Then the bed was on fire and Mamma was cross.” 

“…Ah.” Clef suppressed a grin. “You need the right kind of stone, for this spell. If you don’t have one, it can go wrong.” Ferio nodded, seriously, and handed the stone back – Clef took it, just as gravely, and set it on the edge of the desk. 

“I guess you do know lots of things, then.” Ferio said, with a deep sigh. “Mamma said you’d be able to tell Emeraude things, and that’s why we’re here. But-“ 

“…Are you wondering why you are here, as well as your sister?” Clef asked, quietly. Ferio nodded, biting his lip. 

“Mamma said they were making the house better after all of those creatures came.” Ferio’s voice dropped even lower. “That they would be really busy.” 

Clef had seen what was left of the village, after the last attack – it would take some time to make things right, and longer still until they could be certain nothing more was going to be pulled there by the traces of Emeraude’s power. “Your parents wanted both of you to be safe, while things were being fixed, and while they’re helping to fix things, they won’t be able to spend so much time with you – but if you are both here, then neither you nor your sister are alone.” 

“And the creatures can’t get to Em’raude here?” 

Ferio stared him straight in the eyes, on that, and Clef was startled again by the focus there. (Definitely strong-willed like his sister.) 

“No, they can’t.” He reached and patted the wall beside the desk, where there was bare stone surrounding a deep-set window. As he did so, he let a sliver of magic trickle through his fingers – just enough to make the wards in the walls react, coiled lines of power glowing to life. “I helped make these shields. I promise you, nothing will get through them.” 

“…Okay, then.” Ferio said, and the tension faded from the small figure, leaving him dark-eyed with tiredness instead of apprehension. He seemed satisfied enough, but didn’t head back to the door, as Clef half expected. 

The wide window ledge beside Clef was padded with cushions enough to make someone Ferio’s size comfortable. (Or Clef’s, for that matter.) He nodded to it now. “Do you want to sit with me, for a while?” 

“…Okay.” 

Ferio clambered up, and curled into the cushions, watching curiously as Clef picked up his book again – and then Clef had a thought, and frowned. “Ferio, did your parents tell you that the creatures wanted Emeraude?” 

“No. I saw it.”

“…Ah. I see.” He knew the creatures had reached the village while the children were still there, at least once, and suspected that Emeraude had seen them, but for Ferio to have seen so much… 

Part of the shielding about Emeraude’s room was there to let him know if she had a bad dream. He wondered if Ferio might benefit from the same. His nightmares might not bring creatures into being, but that was no reason for him to be left to suffer through them. 

“But they can’t get her here, so it’s okay.” Ferio said, almost to himself, leaning further into the cushions, eyes beginning to drift shut and his words beginning to slur. (Interrogating your sister’s teacher to make sure they were good enough was apparently tiring.) “And I like watching the Guards. Gonna learn to fight like one of ‘em and keep Em’raude safe.” There was a smile on his face now, and that expression was exactly like the one Emeraude wore when she saw a new spell.

“I’m sure you will.” Clef said, softly, believing it. 

A few minutes later Clef stood, detached the outer layer of his robes from his mantle so he could tuck the cloth over Ferio as he slept.


	2. Settling

Many years after the time when he first made his way here in the middle of the night, Ferio pushed the door to the library open without letting it make a sound. It usually squeaked loudly, halfway to open, but if you kept a grip on the handle and lifted as you pushed it open the hinges stayed silent. 

It was one of the things which had carried over from the Castle he remembered from his childhood, a few years spent growing up under the protection of the Pillar and the Guru as Emeraude learnt control. This castle was built on that one, both in the sense of literal foundations, and the memories which had been pressed into it by the people who had shaped it. Particularly Clef, who had lived in the older castle for so long Ferio wondered if he even realised he had reincarnated so much of it into this new place. 

At first, hiding behind the walls from the shattering of the world outside, those little reminders of an age where he had believed he would be able to save his sister – that they could defeat anything, if he protected her while she used her magic… it hurt. Each and every day. A certain mural in one corridor, a fountain in the gardens – so many things made him think of Emeraude. He had avoided the library almost entirely, as uneasy with the memories it brought forward as he was with the man who was responsible for its continued presence. 

He had agreed to play the part of ‘Prince’, to give people someone to look to other than the Guru; their faith in the Priests had been shaken too much for a new Soru to be of any use, and there were other things taking Clef’s time, he couldn’t spend it talking to the remnants of their population and calming them down. Which was horribly important, because their fears could accelerate the destruction of the world about them, and populate what was left with monster after monster, too many for the beleaguered Guard to deal with. 

Maintaining as much of Cephiro’s integrity as possible, searching for the road to the trial – those were things Ferio couldn’t help with. But he was perfectly capable of standing in some fancy armour and proclaiming things in a loud voice so people would listen to him, and let his promises keep their fears from manifesting quite so strongly. 

Ferio had grown to respect Clef, over the terrible months when they both worked to hold together what they could of the land Emeraude had died for, but never enough to ask outright what Clef intended to do to stop the same thing repeating. If he intended to do anything at all. If Ferio had given away his own plans to do the same, Clef could have stopped him. 

So it was a relief and a shock all the same when Clef declared, almost defiantly, his intent of telling the next candidate the whole truth of the Pillar’s fate. Respect had become trust, almost faith. He thought – hoped, anyway – that the trust was mutual. Given Clef’s sponsoring him to the new Council, he supposed it must be.

Now, though, he stood in the doorway to the library and was flung back into the days before that agreement, back when respect for what Clef was doing to hold them together was at war with the fear of what the Guru might do to stop a mere swordsman’s plans, should Clef have held the preservation of Cephiro as his highest duty; as by rights he should have. The memory was vivid, almost playing out in front of him: another late night when Ferio had wandered the corridors, unable to sleep with the unsettled and unsettling weather outside. Wind moaned about the towers of the castle, and rain skittered over the windows in sharp bursts. 

He had found himself stood at this same door, and let himself into the library, absolutely defiantly. Memories could chase the possibility of sleep from him, but he would not let a room make him afraid. He had good memories of afternoons here with Emeraude. Memories he didn’t want to lose to grief. 

The library hadn’t been empty. The Guru was sat in one of the window seats, a book in his hand – but fast asleep, curled towards the glass. 

He looked even smaller than usual, without the pressure of magic mantled about his shoulders. Fragile, drawn in a way Ferio had seen lurking about his sister’s face when she had overreached her abilities, though it had been many years since he had witnessed that. 

Ferio hesitated, but the soft and steady light from a glowing stone tucked onto a shelf pulled him closer – and as he got nearer, he could see that the fingertips clinging onto that book were slowly turning blue from the cold which saturated the air, so unnatural for Cephiro. 

Pulling off his cloak, Ferio had carefully draped it over the Guru, before moving away again. 

Clef didn’t stir. The room was full of shadows, but even they were familiar. There were no ghosts to frighten Ferio in here. 

Ferio left the room as silently as he had entered. 

oOo

Several years on, in the present, Clef filled rather more of the windowseat than he had then – but he was curled towards the land outside the glass in precisely the same way, and still clinging to a book as he drowsed. Ferio shook his head, trying not to grin – he’d been looking for Clef deliberately this time, trying to ask his opinion on the new security report, but it wasn’t urgent. He might as well let the man sleep. 

It wasn’t cold the same way it had been back then, but the night-time air was still several degrees cooler than it had been when the sun was up. He unfastened the cloak from his light armour, feeling almost nostalgic, and draped it over Clef. 

Who stirred, this time, eyes opening slowly. “Ah.” He murmured, voice low and easy with sleep. “Thank you, Ferio.” He showed no sign of moving – and his eyes were shutting again, almost immediately. 

Ferio grinned. “Just returning a very old favour.” He said, softly, and turned to go. 

“One you already returned, once.” Clef said, behind him, sounding no more awake than a moment ago. 

Ferio hesitated, then looked back. “I …didn’t think you remembered that.” 

“I didn’t think you wanted me to.” Clef told him, and only then seemed to wake up a fraction more, eyes opening again to see Ferio’s reaction. “…I wasn’t entirely certain it was you I had seen leaving the room, and the cloak could have belonged to any of a dozen people.”

“Perhaps I didn’t want you to know it was me.” Ferio admitted, quietly. “Not then. You reminded me of my promise to become a Guard, to protect my sister. Every time I looked at you, I knew that we had both failed to save her.” Clef’s eyes closed, and Ferio saw him swallow – but he could see, too, the land outside the window Clef leant on. Starlight glittered on far-off water, marked out the gently swaying tops of forests, and the ridges of the high mountains. “But we saved the land she loved, all the same.” He said, throat tight. Clef looked up sharply at that. “So maybe we haven’t failed her after all.” 

“…Perhaps not.”

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Eventually Ferio shook his head, and smiled a little. “…I’ll let you get back to sleep. You’re welcome to keep the cloak for now, though I’m sure you would be more comfortable in an actual bed.” 

Clef pulled a face, and waved one hand at him. “In a little while. I just want to finish looking through this chronicle – besides, everyone knows where my room is. They keep waking me up to sort out the most irritatingly pointless things.” 

“Good night, then.”

It was late, but not achingly so, and Cephiro looked beautiful under the stars. Maybe he would go for a walk, instead of bothering with the reports. They could wait until tomorrow.


End file.
